Chapter 21 – About Clothes and Ice
September 17th 2009, 4:32 pm
Starfire was walking happily down the hall, towards her friend Raven's room. She had a plan of meditating with her. She knew Raven for many years, and she knew that with the empath, it was giving that she would receive. She missed spending some time with her friend, and if she meditate with her for a couple of hours, it would be more likely for her to accept go to the mall or watching a TV show later.
Arriving to the door with the inscription 'Raven', she knocked lightly. For her surprise, the door opened quickly, as if the friend was waiting for her, or next to the door.
"Oh, hi, Starfire" she said, looking disappointed. Was she expecting somebody else?
"Hello friend Raven!" she greeted her with a big smile "I was wondering if we could meditate this afternoon, and then maybe we could go to the mall or paint our nails or…"
"I already meditated today, actually" she interrupted, looking distracted "But we can go to the mall. Now, if you want."
Starfire's mouth dropped and for a second she just stood there, surprised with her friend's reaction. After the shock, she didn't waste time – she could change her mind – and grabbed the empath's hand, flying towards the exit.
"Wait, I need my wallet!"
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Beast Boy was especially excited. For the last two days, he had been preparing something very special. Related, of course, with his friend Raven. With the intention, of course, of changing this friendship into something more. It had been a month, and every time he went on a date with her, he had fun like he didn't in a long time. He felt butterflies in his stomach, an electric current to her touch, the heat when they were too close.
And, after last Saturday, he was sure she felt something for him as well. He smiled and looked to the horizon, remembering.
They had left the dogs in their cages and he realized Raven had some difficulty to separate from Bubbles, as she kept looking behind.
"Don't worry" he said, touching her shoulder "They have really good care here, she's fine"
"She's lonely…" she muttered, a sad expression on her face "With a lot of bad memories"
"I didn't know you could read animal's minds" he said, surprised.
"I can only see some images and feel intentions…" she explained, and they were outside, the sun high in the blue sky "I don't know, she kind of reminded me myself"
"What?" he turned, worried. She noticed and lightened her expression.
"No… Not like that. It's just, you know, living alone, scare and frightened, not understand what is happening around you" she said, looking at the sky "And how everything changed after I met the Titans"
"Yeah… We'll always be here for you" he whispered, realizing how close to her he was.
Raven looked up and he looked deep into her violet eyes, as if hypnotized. Without thinking, he leaned on, and their noses touched lightly. In that moment, however, his communicator started ringing, and until he turned it off – it was Cyborg wanting to know if he had been kidnapped – the moment was gone and she became a little cold, avoiding his eyes.
But that moment, he was sure she wished it to continue just as much as him. Now he was ready. Ready to tell her how he felt. Because, even if he was completely wrong about this, he had done all he could.
So he was preparing an extra special date. For that, he would use some super hero privileges.
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Raven was bored, next to a clothes rack, going through the hangers, not seeing anything of her interest. Starfire had already taken two dozen clothes to the dressing room and came out every five minutes to ask her if it was good.
She sighed and went to the next rack. Raven didn't really like going to the mall, and even less buying clother, but after the four times she went out with Beast Boy, she realized her civil clothes were pretty much over. He had gone to her room earlier that day to ask her to go somewhere the next day again and, hesitantly, she said yes once again. So she needed new clothes.
"What do you think of this combination, friend Raven?" asked Starfire, coming out of the dressing room. She was wearing a black mini skirt and a whit long sleeves shirt.
"It's great, Star" she answered honestly.
"Do you think it's better or worse than the previous one?"
"Ahn… Better…?" Raven risked, not really remembering the friend's last outfit.
"It's your turn now, friend Raven!" she asked, excited "You haven't tried a single one!"
"I still haven't found anything I like" complained the empath.
"Let me pick some for you!" Starfire suggested.
"I don't think so…" Raven almost laughed, imagining the kinds of clothes the Tamarean would pick for her.
"Please friend, I'm so much faster, just tell me what kind of clothes you want" she insisted.
"Well… Nothing low-cut or too short" she informed, sighing "I prefer blue, white or black"
"Friend Raven, what if we made… as you say in Earth… a deal?" Starfire said with an evil look in her beautiful face. Raven raised an eyebrow.
"What kind of deal?"
"If I find clothes you like" she started, her feet leaving the ground "Every three of them, you try on one I pick. Just try!"
Raven crossed her arms, suspicious. But it would be so easier to sit down and wait Starfire come back with selected clothes…
"Fine. We have a deal"
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"What's up, BB!" greeted Cyborg, sitting on the couch next to his green friend, who was playing video games.
"Hey man" he answered, distracted.
"What are you playing?"
"Super Monkeys Special Adventure III"
"What? I thought they were out of line!" exclaimed the robot man, impressed "Where did you get this?"
"A used games fair" he explained, pausing the game.
"A fair…? Man, why didn't you tell me?"
"Hm… You were going out with Sarah…" Beast Boy almost asked.
"That's no excuse!" he argued "You've been out a lot by yourself on weekends lately… Weird…"
"Well…"
"But say Cyborg, you and this Sarah girl are dating for what? Two months?" commented Robin, approaching the friends "Is it getting serious?"
"I… I don't know, man" muttered Cyborg, embarrassed.
"I would love to know the girl you've been realizing the dates, friend Cyborg!" said Starfire, suddenly coming from behind the couch, a bunch of bags in her hands.
"Yeah, that would be cool" agreed Robin, after kissing his girlfriend "How about Saturday? All of us, at the pizza place"
"How about Sunday?" asked Beast Boy, worried about his plans.
"Why?" questioned Robin, curious.
"Calm down guys, I have to check with her first!" Cyborg warned, getting nervous.
At least, Sarah would only be available the next week, and they agreed on Saturday night at the pizza place.
"Terra, book next week's Saturday night" said Robin when the blonde entered the common room "We'll meet Cyborg's girlfriend!"
"Hey man!" yelled Cyborg, really nervous now.
"Hey Raven!" called Beast Boy, spotting the empath right after Terra.
"If it's about Cyborg's girlfriend, I've heard" she informed, in her usually bored voice.
"But on a serious subject" started Robin, getting up "Now that we're all here, I want to let you know that tomorrow morning we'll have a general practice, I want to see how you guys are doing"
"Morning like…?" asked Terra.
"6:30" to what a general moan followed.
"Boyfriend Robin, you are so serious about our performance" said Starfire, hugging him.
Beast Boy pretended to puke into his bowl of popcorn behind the couple, in a way only Raven could see him.
It was so unexpected that Raven, who had just taken her tea cup to her lips, choke, feeling the hot tea coming up her nose.
"Are you okay, Raven?" asked Cyborg when she started to coughed, to what she just nodded and waved so they wouldn't worry. Beast Boy, however, knew how to recognize a laugh when he saw one.
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September 19th 2009, 9:10 pm
Raven landed softly on the asphalt of the corner where she agreed to meet Beast Boy. She was late some minutes, because for the first time, she got in doubt about what she would be wearing. She looked around. She was next to a square where some couples walked holding hands. She sat down on a bench, sighing.
Starfire had done a wonderful job, to her complete surprise. She barely had time to rest her feet when the Tamarean came back, flying with a little mountain of clothes in her arms. Mostly exactly what she had asked for. Annoyed, she had to keep her part of the deal and try on some of the clothes her friend picked. And, she hated to admit it, but some actually looked good on her.
In the end, she came back with a good bunch of bags. When she arrived in her room and unpacked them, she noticed she clothes enough for months going out. So she started thinking about it. What was this thing with Beast Boy? And what had happened when they left the kennel? That was dangerous. If his communicator hadn't ring, she wouldn't have had the time to concentrate her mind and something serious and dangerous could had happened.
"Raven!" called a voice, and the empath lifted her eyes. Beast Boy was running towards her and waving. He was wearing dark blue pants similar to his uniform and a long sleeve white shirt.
"Sorry I'm late" he said, stopping next to her and catching his breath "You're very pretty"
Raven blushed intensely to this compliment and stared at her feet, trying hard not to let the emotions take the best of her. She was wearing black legging pants, blue shoes and a lilac blouse with delicate laces in her collar and sleeves, which went to her elbows. Of course it was Starfire's choice.
"So, shall we?" he asked, and she nodded, following him.
"Rae? Are you okay?" he questioned after a while, leaning to see her face better.
"Yeah, I'm fine" she lied, still avoiding his look. In her mind, a dilemma was taking place. She felt like Affection was trying to squeeze herself through the tight opening she let for her powers, and Timidity was holding her by her cape, telling her it was not what she was thinking.
They walked in silence for some minutes, until Beast Boy stopped next to a metal door painted purple, went through his pocket and took off a little key. Raven put her dilemma aside for a moment and looked around while he unlocked the door.
"What is this place?" she asked, noticing the wall was plain and they were far from other buildings.
"Hm… It's a surprise" he said, opening the door and indicating she should go inside. She hesitated with a suspicious look. "Come on Raven, after all this time I still haven't gained your trust?"
Raven sighed and walked through the door. She was on at looked like the backstage of a theater, deepened in the dark, except for a light source some steps ahead. Beast Boy locked the door behind her and conducted her to the source of light, which was a gap between thick red velvet curtains.
Raven was so surprised with what she found that everything was wiped away from her mind. They had entered a huge ice rink. The chairs around it were empty, and dim green, blue and pink lights lightened the place.
"Beast Boy… What…"
"Here" he said, handing her a pair of ice skates. She wondered how he discovered her size without asking.
"I've never been here" she commented, taking the skates and watching as he put on his owns "Why is it so empty?"
"It's Jump City's ice rink" he explained, clumsily getting up "We saved this place from complete destruction once; it was an attack from HIVE. I asked the manager for this little favor and he was more than happy to attend it."
"But…"
"Put on your skates!" he asked, going away "I'll put on some music"
Raven blank and sat, taking off her shoes and putting on the skates. When she was finishing tiding the laces, she heard a instrumental music playing, not loud enough to hurt her ears. She got up carefully, supporting herself on the close around the rink, and put a foot on the ice, easily sliding.
Beast Boy approached her, moving naturally. She concentrated on not falling, sliding without much impulse.
"Have you done this before?" he asked next to her.
"Just once" she answered, opening her arms to help her balance "I was little and the monastery's lake froze… Ow!"
Raven's left foot slid way ahead of the right one, and Beast Boy helped her, holding her right hand with his own and pulling her body with his left arm, involving her.
"Oops, careful there" he laughed "Are you okay?"
She nodded, blushing.
"Why did you bring me here?" she questioned, getting apart from him.
"You didn't come with us some years ago because you said too many people would get in the way of your emotion balance" he told her, still holding her right hand "But I… I don't know, I got the impression that you did want to skate. So this is easier, right? Just us"
Raven was spared of answering this question when they had to turn and Beast Boy almost hit the fence. She smiled and shook her head, going ahead without him, finding out that faster was actually easier.
"Hey, you're good at that" he commented, catching up "I took some time to perfect my technique"
"Yes, I saw Cyborg's videos" she informed, still paying attention to where she was going.
"Dude, he recorded that?!" he moaned, ashamed, since he had indeed fallen a lot.
"It's kind of like flying" she said, feeling her hair float behind her.
"Yeah, and we don't need to use our powers" he agreed, exceeding her. She raised an eyebrow and went faster too, until she was in the lead again.
"Come on Rae, you don't wanna race me" he warned, sliding backwards, until he tripped and almost fell.
"Very elegant, Beast Boy" she said, rolling her eyes. "How did you know I like this song?"
"I… didn't actually!" he answered, waving his arms to keep standing "I'm glad you like it!"
The lights suddenly got dimmer and there was only one blue spotlight in the rink's center. Raven turned and slid carefully to the fence, stopping for a second. She heard the changeling approaching and stopping next to her.
"Raven, I have something to tell you"
The empath lifted her head and found her friend's eyes, that were staring at hers like they were the only thing that mattered. She remained silent and found out that, deep down, she was waiting for this moment ever since the first time he asked her out. He whispered next to her ear the three words she longed for so much and yet was sure would never hear from her green skinned teammate.
She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling Beast Boy's warm breath getting closer, and lifted her head slightly to receive his lips on hers.
Never before Raven felt something like what she was feeling in that moment. Beast Boy's hands involved her neck and she grabbed his arms, bringing him closer. In that moment, in that ice rink, nothing else existed beside the both of them, linked, balancing in their skates on the slipping ground, with nothing but each other as support.
And her biggest wish was that this moment never ended, that she never had to separate her lips from his and looked into his eyes and lie, and say she didn't reciprocate his feeling so she could spare both and the rest of the world of a constant danger situation.
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